Nappy Roots

It’s Monday, September the 11th. Here I am, early in the morning in front of my computer, wrapped in a bed sheet looking very similar to Drew Barrymore in Charlie’s Angels. Now, I could sit here and reminisce on the tragedy that happened on this day years ago or I could continue to be selfish and just talk about what’s going on in my life. I think I’ll be selfish.

So, Friday night the crew got together for some impromptu QT (quality time). Because nothing elaborate was planned, we just decided to keep it simple. We chose to go to the Fridays down downtown near GWU and then we were going to just hit up the usual spots in Adams Morgan.

After a rather whack time at Fridays and squeezing seven people into the Maxima, we headed up to Adams Morgan. I have to say that this was a good weekend for parking. Anyway, while scouting the area for a bar that looked like it was popping and an ATM so K-girl could get some cash, we came to the McDonald’s at the corner of 18th and Columbia. As we walked by, this girl looks up at Tracey who’s on my arm. As I see her look up, I see that she’s about to say something. I think it’s going to be something along the lines of “I like your earrings” or something like that. I was wrong. Instead, she says:

“We aren’t slaves in the field pickin’ cotton anymore. So, I’m gonna need you to comb your hair.”

Mind you this girl looked like she fell straight out of Roots herself with her extra large cornrows that really needed to be redone, but that’s neither here nor there. Tracey (as well as Erin, Maria, and Cherrish) are going natural with their hair. They’ve come to terms with the fact that perms are slowly but surely killing their hair and have decided to grow it out and go with the natural look. Tracey’s hair, by no means, is bad. In fact, she doesn’t really need a perm.

Anyway, if you haven’t caught on by now from my previous stories of Adams Morgan, the streets are full of people. You really have to pay attention to where the people you came with are. So we, as a group, were a little separated. So, after the comment Tracey gets a little hostile (being the smallest in the group and you know what they say about those little ones) and I grabbed Tracey and pulled her along. Quiet Jocee and Erin (advocate for natural hair) start getting loud too, as they heard the girl make the comment. The girl decides she wants to “keep it real” and gets up to confront Tracey, Erin, and Jocee. Little did she know that K-girl and Cherrish were with us. Apparently when her friends realized how deep the crew was rolling, they promptly grabbed her and apologized for her behavior.

Now, I know I’m long-winded when it comes to my writing, but hell, I’m finally at my point. Why was it so necessary for that girl to go all out of her way to say something inappropriate like that? Especially over something like her hair? So, what? Now that my girl doesn’t have a fresh perm she’s supposed to look like a slave? That is some real backward ass thinking. How can we as a people grow if we’re constantly knocking each other down for being true to ourselves and our heritage? The answer is that we can’t and we won’t. If that girl had taken the time out to think before she opened her mouth she would have realized how ignorant she sounded.

This is a general problem with us today, though. We’re always so busy putting each other down and holding each other back, that others are passing us and achieving what we should have. That whole, crabs in a barrel mentality. This is an old and tired complaint, though. Something that’s been around for way to long and I’m sure will be around for a lot longer, unfortunately. It just seems like the more we tell each other to think, the less we actually do. *sigh*